The Journey
by smuffly
Summary: Part of Myriad-13's Quote Challenge. A character and a quote picked entirely at random (I promise), in a story of less than 2000 words. Adam takes an emotional journey into his past.


**THE JOURNEY**

**This short story is part of Myriad-13's Quotation Challenge. A random character, and a random quote, in a fic of anything up to 2000 words. Yet again (somehow!) I managed to pick Adam. So far, so good. The quote itself seemed easy at first, but putting it into a story gave me a lot to think about. I went through several different ideas before I settled on this one, but it moved me the most. The quote itself is highlighted near the end. I hope you'll agree that it fits.**

**Thanks to Lily Moonlight for editing. **

**Reviews would be very much appreciated, as always.**

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The first available flight was late in the evening. Adam took it gratefully. He couldn't bring himself to sleep, or even to read, as the plane flew on through the night and into the dawn. At the airport, he picked up a rental car. The roads were quiet and he raced along them, driven by his desperate need to get there in time.

The back seat was littered with candy wrappers. Music blared at a level that felt like insanity. The noise, and the sugar rush, and the sense of absolute urgency - all of these things served to keep him awake for as long as possible.

And to hide the truth.

His quest was hopeless.

He was too late.

Pulling onto her driveway at last, in the early hours of Sunday morning, he rolled the car to a halt and let silence sink around him like a long, slow breath. An exhalation. Adam bowed his head. The garden was still; no birds, no wind in the stunted trees that formed a wreath around the tiny house. He could feel it already. The lack. The brightness that had faded, like a sunbeam cut off by a cloud.

With cold precision, the clock on his dashboard informed him that it was five o'clock. After so much reckless motion, Adam was frozen in time, pinned to his seat by the old familiar fear. _I'm intruding._ He reached out his hand to the key, half-tempted to turn around and leave at once.

_Coward._

What would she think of him? If she were watching? Ghostly eyes, from a nearby window?

Adam shuddered.

Could she really be dead?

And now he knew that he had to do it. Walk up to the door and ring the bell, no matter how early it was. Face her daughter and share the loss.

After all, it was his loss too.

His fingers moved from the key to the door-handle. _Click._ Fresh air assailed him as his aching legs swung out and his shoes hit the dirt.

The scent of flowers - somehow she had coaxed them to grow, even here.

The morning sun, that caught his skin and made him tingle.

_I miss that,_ he thought, with surprise. New York was huge, and wildly exciting - but Phoenix would always feel like home.

Caught off-guard by the strength of his emotion, Adam hovered beside the car. All around the house, the curtains were closed. Beyond the garden was an empty road. Nothing stirred. The whole world was asleep, and he was alone.

Until she opened the door.

Tousled hair and a wonky dressing gown, pulled on in haste. Pale skin that spoke of long days spent at her mother's bedside, and nowhere else.

"Hello, Kate," he said.

She peered at him with hooded eyes.

_I'm a stranger,_ he realised suddenly, full of dismay. _She doesn't know me._

_This was a mistake._

"I heard the car pull up," Kate said. Her voice was rough, and her eyes were red. Had she even been sleeping? He wondered what was going through her mind, as she stared at him blankly.

"I'm Adam," he offered, at last. "Adam Ross. Don't... don't you remember?"

A moment of silence - and then her whole face lit up.

"Oh!" she gasped. With a surge of relief, she threw her arms around him. "Adam! I can't believe it."

Startled, he held her up. Her body was shaking. "Shall we go in?" he suggested quietly. The question hovered on his lips, but still he could not say it. _Am I too late?_

Kate pulled away and led him into the house, which was cool, and dark, and just as he remembered it. "I'm sorry," she told him. "Mom passed away at two this morning. How... how did you know?"

"Your brother called me. Jack? We still keep in touch. Just letters, now and then, but it's nice. He's trying to get home - the corps have given him leave, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to make it in time. And he didn't want you to be all alone when it happened. Then he remembered me... But I let you down. I wasn't here when you needed me." He sighed, mournful all of a sudden.

"Not true. You're here now - that's what matters. I'm so glad you came." She smiled. "How far?"

"New York," he told her, with some pride.

"New _York_? Then..." Kate halted, as a darker memory rose to the surface.

He shrugged. "I live my own life now. I've got a job that I love, and a group of amazing friends. Thanks to your mom. She taught me so much. Not just science, you know, but how a family ought to be. And how the kindness of strangers can change your whole world. I've never forgotten - not once."

Together, they stepped into the kitchen. There was the table, just as he knew it would be; pitted and scarred with the marks of a thousand meals. A place of happiness, and safety. Above it, on the wall, was a framed quotation. **'You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.' Brigham Young.** Those words had hung above his head on many an evening, as he sat and studied in the bright warmth of Mary Dell's house, away from... well, away from everything.

"She was good to me," he said.

Kate nodded.

"Not just to you. She'll be missed." Her voice grew small. "_I'll _miss her..."

Adam squeezed her hand.

"And you?" he murmured, sensing her need for distraction. "What are _you _doing now?"

Kate's smile was warm; an echo of the one that he had loved so much.

"I'm a teacher, of course," she said firmly. "Just like my mother..."


End file.
